SHINNING ON YOUR LAMP-STAND

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but ON a candlestick (lampstand) and it gives light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16

Children of God in the house, Jesus says you are the light of the world because Christ-the Light has given you light. And in order to fulfill this calling as lights of the world, He has committed Himself to put you on a lampstand. This is because if human beings will not light a candle and hide it under the bushel, Christ would not light you and hide you away. He will put you on a lampstand to shine for Him.
The lampstand of shining is the various platforms of opportunities where we are strategically positioned by God to represent the interest of the Kingdom. That school where you teach or lecture is a lamp stand for shining. That corporate office where you work is a lamp-stand for shining. That hospital where you are working is a platform for shining. That business or professional outfit is a platform for shining. That family which God has given you is a lamp stand to shine for Jesus.
How do we shine? Just as light does not shout or struggle to shine, it simply appears as light and darkness disappears. Light is silent but powerful! In like manner, we are not expected to struggle, shout, stage aluta, or place a sticker of “I am a light” on our forehead. No, we are simply to live as children of Light. The life is the light. The Scripture says, In Him was LIFE and the LIFE was the LIGHT of men. The light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. The Life of Christ is the light for the darkness of this world.

                                                                           

Joseph was a shining light. Having endured the contradiction of sinners from his own brethren, the temptation from the wife Potiphar, the unjust punishment of prison from Potiphar, God eventually brought him to the lamp-stand of the throne of Egypt where he could serve as a burning and a shining light for the world of sinners. When He ascended the throne, he did not hide the light of God in Him under the bushel by forgetting the purpose for which he was brought into the palace of power. He did not siphon the public fund of Pharaoh, neither did he embezzle the money from the sales of grains. He did not oppress the poor because of his vantage point, neither did he take advantage of them because they were at his mercy. He lived as a faithful ambassador of the God of Abraham who sent him there for His Own purpose. Unlike many Christians today, who forget their identity once they find themselves in the leadership position both in the church and in the secular circle, Joseph did not forget his identity as a Jew. He identified fully with his brethren. In fact, while dying, he prophesied of their deliverance from Egypt and solemnly charged them NOT to leave his bones behind because he had his eyes fixed on the Promised Land of Canaan. He knew he had no continuing city in Egypt which is a type of this world, and looked forward to a better city, whose maker and builder is God.

Esther was also a burning and a shining light. The moment she understood that she had been made the wife of the king for “such a time as this”, she did not confer with flesh and blood. She rose up to the challenge of rescuing her brethren-the Jews by engaging the power of prayer and the power of her office. If she had developed a strange appetite once she arrived in the palace of more than enough provisions, she would not have been able to fast and pray without eating for three days in order to rescue the people of God. How many Christians today have lost their spiritual sensitivity and power to influence their world just because they have been silenced by strange appetites and love of money when they arrived on their lampstands! Breakthrough for them has become breakdown. Success has succeeded in silencing them from speaking for the truth. Leadership position, even in the church has led us astray from the simplicity of the gospel of Christ. You see a brother who just got appointed to a leadership office and he suddenly becomes complex, sophisticated and isolated from his brethren. Forgetting that the leadership position is meant to serve the brethren and not to oppress them.

Beloved brethren in Christ, we are the light of this world. We will not be acting faithfully to Him who has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son when we begin to compromise godly standards and principles on our lamp-stands. We should not forget that the lamp-stands are given to us purposely to shine for Jesus. It’s why Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven”.

This world with its principle of operations is Darkness because it is governed by Satan-the Prince of Darkness. It’s why God has and is giving us lampstands of opportunities and positioning in this present world so we might show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light May we not fail in this calling. Where we have failed, may the Lord show us mercy.

Today we are groaning under the heavy yoke of bad leadership in Nigeria, forgetting that God’s children had also occupied strategic positions in this nation before. But their failure in hiding their light under the bushel is what has given the darkness an unhindered access to operate. It only takes the light to withdraw for darkness to creep in. Now darkness has grown so
big that it has become a threatening monster seeking to wipe out the light! In the days when the church used to shine as light on her lamp-stand, the government normally would write to the church to request for people to fill sensitive leadership positions in government and offices. But gone are the days when the government listen to the church! The salt that loses its saltiness can only be cast out and trodden under the foot of men. How did we get here? How has the gold become dim! People by sin and compromise sell their liberty, and princes their dignity, and profane their crowns by casting them to the ground. Righteousness is what exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people, including Christians!

So what are you doing with your lamp-stand? Are you a shining light or a smouldering, smoking light? As a lecturer in the Higher Institution of learning, what are you doing with the unsolicited access you have to students? Are you shinning for Jesus or you have joined the company of lecturers exploiting students sexually and financially to your own advantage? As a medical practitioner, how are you using the platform of meeting those who are at your mercy so to say? Hope you are not one of those wicked, apathetic nurses and doctors who treat people as if they themselves are not human beings in need of God’s mercy? As a leader in government and cooperate organization, what are you doing with your leadership advantage? Are the people under your influence rejoicing as people do when the righteous are in authority or are they groaning as when the wicked rule? What are you doing with the money that God gave you the power to have? Are you ministering to the poor which Jesus says we will always have around us or you have become obsessed with money to the extent that you now serve that unrighteous mammon? Remember what Jesus said? “YOU cannot serve God and mammon!” What did you do with the opportunity you had to travel out? Some traveled out of the country and traveled out of purpose and godliness. Those who ought to be light among the nations who have forsaken their God have abandoned their calling in pursuit of money and material possession.

God is looking for medical practitioners who will be gentle and meek on people without exploiting people who appear to be at their mercies. God is looking for businessmen who are not greedy of filthy lucre to the extent of delving into cheating, bribery, and corruption. God is in search of teachers and lecturers, who beyond teaching and collecting salaries, will represent Jesus in love and purity in the academic environment. God needs professionals that will represent Christ uncompromisingly in principles and policies in the corporate world. The lamp-stand of pulpits is also not left out, God needs Christ-like, exemplary and fiery preachers that will turn this wayward and godless generation back to God. May I and you be a shining light!

There is a danger if we fail to fulfill divine agenda on our lamp-stand. Remember Saul-the first king in Israel? God sacked him and still kept him on the throne for thirty-eight solid years when he failed to justify the purpose of his appointment. May you and not be replaced. God can replace anybody! The Hand that lifts up can also bring down. And who will plead your cause if God is against you? But God normally would warn before He executes His just judgments. And He is warning us today: “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Rev 2:5 KJV).

In the name of Jesus, the darkness of Satan and this evil world will not overcome your light. ARISE AND SHINE! FOR THY LIGHT IS COME, AND THE GLORY OF GOD has RISEN
OF GOD UPON YOU

© Kehinde A. Bolutife.